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Muslim Prayer and Religious Discrimination in New Hampshire

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Several Muslim employees of our

New Hampshire company want to take breaks every day to pray.  Do I have to allow this?

Yes. It’s federal law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964is the applicable statute. It applies nationwide, including New Hampshire.

You as an employer must allow Muslims take prayer breaks in most cases.

According to Title VII, religious expression must be allowed at work unless it places an “undue hardship” on the employer. You must make what are called “reasonable accommodations” for “sincerely held” religious beliefs.

Let’s take a look at these three phrases, “undue hardship,” “reasonable accommodation,” and “sincerely held.”

First, “undue hardship.” Usually there’s a system already in place for your employees to take short breaks, including bathroom breaks. Let’s say your Muslim employee worked alone, and that taking prayer breaks would mean you’d have to hire another employee. That might be construed as an undue hardship. But circumstances like that are uncommon.

What constitutes a “reasonable accommodation”? It might be one that’s not excessively expensive for you to maintain. You might provide loose-fitting uniforms with trousers for a Muslim woman rather than the usual short skirt uniform. That would be a “reasonable accommodation,” even if the loose-fitting uniforms were a little more costly. But a $10,000 designer uniform would not be.

Finally, what is a “sincerely held” belief? The employee must show that the belief is sincerely held, such as evidence that he or she is attending services sometimes or participating in his or her religion in some other way. If the employee were pretending to be Jewish one week, Muslim the next, and Christian the third to take advantage of all religious holidays, that would not be a “sincerely held” belief.

During the day there are 5 times when a follower of Islam is required to pray. Workplaces often provide special quiet rooms for these prayer times. Members of other faiths are usually allowed to use the room as a retreat.

A Christian employee may study the Bible during coffee break. An atheist may simply drink coffee and eat a doughnut. Should these take precedence over Muslim prayer break?  JH